I don't own Kingdom Hearts, nor any of the characters in the game.
Chapter 2
"Hey Riku, Sora! Come on!" Kairi stood outside the entrances to the adjacent tree huts where Sora and Riku slept, her own to the right of Sora's. Behind her the blinding rays of the sun fled in through the openings and seemed to head directly for the faces of the sleeping boys. Sora was the first to rise, waking up a little faster than Riku in the next hut.
"Come on sleepyheads! It's time to get up." Time had gone quickly since the heartless were defeated. Sora's mind quickly went back to the day the heartless had finally been banished from the world for good, or, more properly speaking, the night following. It seemed like his relationship with Kairi had been perfect at that time, and still was great. Now she was asking him to marry though, and he wasn't quite sure he was ready for the responsibility, even though his hormones told him he was.
Although Sora had been the first one to rise, Riku was the first to emerge from his dwelling place, rubbing his eyes still. "It's not like anything new ever happens here."
Kairi punched his shoulder lightly. "Yeah, yeah. Everything's new every day, even if we have seen all there is to see before."
Riku laughed and then Sora emerged sleepily, only to be knocked back in and onto the floor by a flying tackle-kiss as Kairi captured his lips with hers. After several moments the two broke apart.
"Wow, what a way to wake up!" Sora was grinning from ear to ear.
Riku looked bored. "Come on guys. Let's go have some fun!" He took off running, leaping down from the walkway that led up to the tree houses as soon as he could and running past the little pool at the bottom.
"I'm right behind you!" Sora took off after him immediately, racing to catch up.
"Hey, wait for me!" Kairi followed Sora as fast as she could, her legs pumping to try to keep up. She had a harder time keeping pace with the boys now that they were all a few years older.
Riku slowed up a little till Sora and Kairi passed him, his attention drawn by the secret area that had always been so much fun. For some reason he felt a desire to go back there again. He slowed a little more, and then yelled "Go on; I'll catch up!" before darting into the small cave.
Once inside he went to the place where the door had been, though it now seemed so long ago. His hands ran over the wall slowly. It was true that since the adventure he had come to view this place as more of a paradise than a prison, but deep within him a part of him, yet unvanquished, yearned for release. He leaned against the wall for a minute, almost wishing the door would appear again and invite him once more to the other worlds that had once been within his grasp.
"Ahhhh… good. You are back." Riku almost jumped back from the wall as he heard a disembodied voice echoing throughout the cavern.
"Who? Who are you?" The voice was familiar to him.
A deep chuckle followed the question, followed by the voice once again. "Don't you know me boy? Search your heart. A part of me still remains there."
"It… it can't be!" Riku fell to his knees, his hands on the sides of his head as though in pain. "How?"
An evil laugh followed that question, but again no answer was given. "Search your heart, child of darkness. You will find the answer there."
"Riku!" The voice vanished as Sora and Kairi appeared in the cave. "Come on slowpoke – what's taking so long?"
Riku got up quickly. "I was… remembering." He said this slowly before his face returned to its normal demeanor. He flashed Sora a mischievous grin before pointing to the wall where Sora and Kairi had carved their pictures long ago. "Come on. Let's go!" He jumped up and ran back out of the cave, following his previous course as he scaled the wall of rock that the water poured over into the little pool, the main island now in his sight.
"What was that about?" Kairi blinked at Sora.
Sora merely spread his arms out and shook his head helplessly. "It's Riku. Who knows?" He planted a quick kiss on her cheek and then ran out of the cave after Riku, Kairi following him closely.